The best breakfast in Toronto: The Hoof Cafe
I'm not a fan of "going out to brunch." It's way too busy, overpriced and frankly, not very good food. But this isn't a rant against going out for brunch (if you want a good take on my feelings, check out this Toronto Star story by Corey Mintz, who feels the same way I do about these things).
But this isn't a diatribe about going out for brunch, because like any good urban dweller, I still go out for the occasional morning nosh, just usually not on the weekends -- and only on strategically appropriate times. When I feel like going out for breakfast, the places I regularly turn to include Disgraceland at Bloor and Ossington, Starving Artist at Bloor and Landsdowne, The Java House at Queen and Augusta, La Hacienda at Queen and Markham and Leslieville's Lady Marmalade at Queen East and Logan. (Unlike most Leslievillers, I'm not a fan of Bonjour Brioche).
Now I've got one more "must" place to add to the list: The Hoof Cafe.
The Hoof Cafe is a new "extension" of sorts of the infamous Black Hoof Cafe, the city's chief proponent of Charcuterie, Sweet Breads, and if you're lucky, Pig Brains. If you love meat and you're adventurous, you must go to the Black Hoof.
Originally intended as a waiting room/holding area for the restaurant, The Hoof Cafe across the street ended up being a breakfast place, taking on brunch with their typical flair in the mornings, with specialty drinks and apps in the evening. Because I've loved every visit to the Black Hoof, I couldn't wait to try the cafe, and what has become one of it's most popular dishes: The Sucking Pig Benny. (If you're daring enough to go on Saturday and Sunday, you can order Bone Marrow donuts!)
Overall the breakfast was outstanding, and in terms of quality/price, the Hoof Cafe is a great deal -- a main might be a little more expensive than the combo platter you'd normally order somewhere else, but you're easily getting the same quality breakfast as you'd get as an evening entree.
One word of advice: Go early. This place is tiny! From my predictions, there's only about 20 to 25 seats in the whole joint, with about half of those seats being at the bar. Weekdays it's not too bad, but if you're thinking of a weekend run, go for 9:45 and hope there's not a line already!
Canadian art find: Laurentian Pottery at Value Village
During my last visit to "Twice Found," one of my favourite modern/antique stores for browsing in the Annex, I was chatting with the owner who was extolling the virtues of Canadian pottery, and how she thinks we're on the verge of a renewed interest in home-grown art.
Her particular interest was in Beauce, a company located in Quebec, and had many interesting pieces in her shop. One of the things I like about "Twice Found" is that they always have a wide range of pieces, I've previously found a vintage Arabia planter there, and I know someone picked up a set of Arabia mugs as a Christmas gift there too. However, as anybody trying to find decent Scandinavian pottery can attest: it's hard to find, and usually when you do find it, it's expensive and overpriced (thankfully at Twice Found they are a bit more reasonable).
That's one of the big reasons why people are now getting into Canadian pottery: the work is just as beautiful as any other in the world (usually with a prominent Canadian twist), way more plentiful in this part of the world, and much, much cheaper!
So even though we left Twice Found with our first small German pot, I had a desire to discover and learn about Canadian pottery. I got my first chance the day after, during a routine rummage through Value Village, where I found these green mugs. They stood out amongst the usual crap in there, but when I spied the "Canada" imprint on the bottom, I thought it should at least give me a chance to do a little research.
After taking the mugs home, giving them a solid wash and removing the price tag, I found above the "CANADA" stamp a logo that looked like a crude mug drawing and a number. Apparently the style of the glaze is called "volcanic lava," where something is applied to the glaze to make it bubble up and look like a coarse piece of rock. Very cool.
After a little search engineering, I found out that the mugs are made by a French company called Poterie Laurentienne or Laurentian Art Pottery (or just LP as the logo suggests). The company was based in St. Jerome, Quebec and was founded in 1939 by a Mr. Kominick. Apparently they changed their logo to a set of three trees later on.
From what I've seen online, they've made pottery of everything you can think of, from plates to cups to sculptures of snowmobiles and trains. Even if you can't speak French, take a browse through this forum, where LP fans have posted up photos (and numbers) of the company's designs.
Tenant rights: Can I have a dog, in my apartment, in Toronto, Ontario?
"Bored"
So if you haven't heard, we are probably going to be getting a puppy sometime in the new year. It's been suggested to my S.O. that doing so would have therapeutic value in her recovery of a long-lasting chronic illness, and something we could take care of as we prepare for having kids someday.
We've been offered a puppy from my parents, who are hobby breeders of purebred English Bulldogs, and need some help looking after one of the dogs... and we've decided we want to say yes.
However, our biggest obstacle has been the whole "dog in the apartment" issue. When we signed our lease several years ago, one of the details specified was that there would be no pets in our home. Now that the situation is about to change, we now have to weigh our options. After doing some research about Ontario Tenant Rights, it seems the situation on pets-in-apartments is simple.
You can have them.
Maybe.
- "No pets" clauses, even if you agree to them, are invalid by law.
- However, the pet has to not "be a problem for anybody," otherwise the landlord can enforce this rule. The landlord can evict you if the "presence, control or behaviour" of the pet interferes with the "enjoyment" of the apartment complex for all tenants and the landlord, if the pet causes the landlord or other tenants to have an allergic reaction, and if the pet is "inherently dangerous" to the safety of other tenants and the landlord.
So from a legal standpoint, if your dog isn't bugging anyone else, you can have one... though if your landlord isn't happy about it, then he can evict you. The truth is, if you're renting, you probably can't afford to take this one to court, so unless you decide to start hunting for a pet-friendly apartment, then you probably can't have one.
In my current situation, I'm hoping that our landlord will at least let us have the dog on a trial basis, to ensure that the pet isn't a problem for anybody. I've been in my apartment for nearly five years, and I like it. The rent is good, and we have a decent relationship with our landlord. We could have simply brought the dog into our house, hoping that he doesn't notice, and then try to throw the legal argument in his face after the fact -- but we didn't want to be dishonest about the pet's presence either.
So now we wait to hear our landlord's verdict in the matter... it's going to be a hard decision either way, especially after looking at my options on Craigslist and ViewIt.
UPDATE: Our landlord is cool with a trial basis... I'm pleased. Dog, ho!
My favourite album of 2009 is “A Mountain is a Mouth”
Why do we bother with lists? I think it has to do with taste, as if when we collectively choose the same items, it means we all have highly developed critical faculties. These days, I see "best-of" lists as being pointless. Yes, there are "good" movies and "bad movies," and "popular" doesn't always equal good. Instead, I've abandoned "best" for "favourite," because things that make an album or record "good" goes way beyond the aesthetic qualities, and extends to how it interacts and influences life itself. Your life.
In some ways, it's like the band "The Editors." They're not a great band, but there's something in their spirit I connect with, and find compelling. Critically I can't defend everything they do, especially their new record, "In This Light and on This Evening," which at times is downright embarrassing.
Or U2. Sure, some people loved the band when they were good (when they were teens/adults listening to half-decent music in the eighties), but a lot of people love the band now, despite Bono and co. being a dreadful foursome these days.
So here goes my theory: if you are checking out the band on their "Blackberry" tour (or whatever it is), you may go and think it's the greatest concert in years. I won't disagree with your feelings (because doing that is pointless and stupid), because odds are it might be the only concert you have been to in years. But like I said, I have no qualms with anyone who enjoys U2 or Nickelback, because your thing is your thing and that's cool.
And that's why I like to stick with "Favourite." Because in the age of the internet, all anyone needs to do is download a best-of list of whatever Pitchfork posts online, and BAM, they have "good taste." Which is why there are so many frat boys at National concerts.
So anyways, here's the list of albums I loved and listened to this year that were "new," in 2009. If you haven't heard of them, check out their myspace, or hit up a record store like Rotate This, Soundscapes or Sonic Boom in Toronto, and grab any of these albums. I'm kind of curious what I'll go back and listen to 10 years from now (Hello, "Kid A" and "Things We Lost in the Fire").
- "A Mountain is a Mouth" by Bruce Peninsula
- "In Deference to a Broken Back" by The Daredevil Christopher Wright
- "Merriweather Post Pavilion" by Animal Collective
- "Bitte Orca" by Dirty Projectors
- "Now I am Champion" by Sister Suvi
- "The Life of the World to Come" by Mountain Goats
- "Beware" by Bonnie "Prince" Billy
- "Dragonslayer" by Sunset Rubdown
- "Farm" by Dinosaur Jr.
- "Embryonic" by The Flaming Lips
- "Music for Men" by The Gossip
- "Begone Dull Care" by Junior Boys
- "Born on Flag Day" by Deer Tick
- "Heavy Ghost" by DM Stith
- "Potential Things" by Canaille
- "Gospel" by the Schomberg Fair
- "Phrazes for the Young" by Julian Casablancas
- "Pegatively Nositive" by Blankket
- "Mating Calls" by Eatoin Shrdlu
- "Other Truths" by Do Make Say Think
Day-trip in the city: Spots to visit in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood
Usually about once a month, I like to take a Saturday to explore a part of the city that I don't usually get to visit: basically anywhere way West, way east or way North. Last Saturday was my second "official" trip to the hood, but my first real chance to walk around.
The neighborhood, which as you might have guessed by it's name, has an abundance of two things: old warehouses and rail-yards, which as you can imagine, has attracted the creative-class and those who follow. Yet despite the huge presence of artists, the strip is maturing at a nice, gradual pace, unlike the mess at Ossington and Queen.
The neighborhood more or less starts at Keele and Dundas West, north of Bloor Street, and extends west (though there are a few hidden gems to the east). To get there on TTC, you can get on the 40 Junction bus at Dundas West, or board a 107 Northbound Keele bus up to Dundas West.
First off, four places make the trip worthwhile: Smash (2880 Dundas West), an industrial-vintage place that I've raved about before, the "Pure Scandinavian" design shop Mjolk (2959 Dundas West) which I wrote about yesterday, the Electric Revival Antique Lighting store (3075 Dundas West) and home to one of the city's other $12,000 dollar Clover coffee maker, Crema (3079 Dundas West).
A few other places worth visiting include Pandemonium, a used book/vinyl/CD shop (2862 Dundas West) that while small, and maybe a little pricey, has a great vibe and lots of obscure gems. I picked up a signed vinyl copy of "A New Celebration for All to Sing" (1972) by The Toronto Mass, and spotted one of the greatest album covers on "Gospel Guitar" by Joe Maphis... as you can see, it has a pile of technicolor squares framing a photo of Joe's double-neck guitar, what I think is an old delay/reverb unit, an old Fender Bassman amplifier, and a copy of the Bible. Sweet.
There's also another cool diner/coffee shop called "Cool Hand of a Girl" (2894 Dundas West) which I didn't get a chance to visit, but I've heard good things about. Same goes for Rawlicious (3092 Dundas West), an all raw food restaurant that I was going to visit before getting called away for some urgent business during my day-trip. One of the city's finer selections of DVDs can also be found at Big Daddy's DVD Shop (3044 Dundas West), which should be seen just for the sweet sign-age outside.
As for bars, because the Junction enduring several years of modern prohibition, they've only recently come up to speed, and now count Axis, The Troubador and Margaret as great places to grab a pint. Otherwise, there's lots of other interesting stores to browse, including lots of furniture places, thrift and vintage stores and various health food joints.
“It’s like the Watchmen logo, but opposite”
Truer words have never been spoken.
Okay, yeah they have.
Spadina station, like basically every other station is getting oppressively groady. Is it mold all over the place? What is it? Even the so-called nice station, Museum, is getting crud all over it's fresh paint job.
It may be called Hogtown, but our TTC stations make us look like pigs.
Do Make Say Think at the Enwave Theatre, Sunday Dec. 13
Years ago I saw my band-mate and sister-in-law perform here with the Children's Choir of Canada ("The Hobbit" and "A Christmas Carol")... but my seats were never as good as they were last night. I don't know why we had lousy tickets before, but my opinion of the venue has changed, because the sound was incredible, the rows of seating spacious, and the irritated ushers trying to stop somebody in the front row from doing something hilarious.
As for the band itself, Do Make Say Think have a lot of history in Toronto, from the famed recordings at CIUT, to their involvement with Arts & Crafts and Broken Social Scene. Last night, they were at the top of their game; noisy, elegant and exploding with cheer.
After the show, and after having a super late dinner at a lousy Chinese place on Spadina, we saw Charles Spearin just riding the streetcar with us, all by his lonesome, meandering down onto the subway. He congratulated him on the show, he thanked us, and that was it. It was a great night.
Abraham’s Antiques expands… enjoy the room, for now!
With my Christmas shopping underway, I began scouring Queen Street West for gifts, and as I headed east, I wandered to Bathurst. There, I spotted what looked to be a brand new antique store... but inside I realized I had been there before.
Unlike many of my favourite spots at Queen and Bathurst that have long since disappeared (Zap Records, Travel Cafe, Suspect Video), Abraham is still going strong with his amazing collection of totally random techniques.
Now, he's renovated his shop, and it appears to be over three to four times the size it previously was... and I suspect that it won't stay that way for long. The main thing I like about the reno is that the space looks far more composed than it ever has before... you have always been able to tell he arranges his shop like a giant living art installation, but with the revamp, you can take in the giant canvas far more easily.
While I've only ever bought vintage art pieces from his shop, I've always been tempted to find out what he charges for his music equipment: there's walls and walls and walls of guitars, guitar bodies, guitar necks, and a massive shelf of vintage microphones available for rent.
Abraham himself is a stand-up guy himself, with extensive knowledge about his stuff, and is more than willing to work out a good, fair price for it. I know that some people find him intimidating to approach, but once you get him talking, you can tell that he takes a lot of pride in what he does.
I love Leslieville and it's quaint little mid-century modern stores like GUFF and Ethel, I wish the east side had a shop like Abraham's, the kind of place you can get lost in (and not think that everything is junk).
(Read more about Abraham in this City News piece from last year... some great photos there too)
The worst feature of the t.o.night newspaper
Being a print-based outlet is a tough slog these days, and I don't want to heap undue criticism on any publication in particular (considering I also work for an online media outlet).
But...
The free afternoon glossy "t.o.night" has a simply terrible feature. The last few times I've picked it up from a faux newsie at Osgoode station to read on the subway ride home, I've noticed the most peculiar self-promotion sitting on the paper's back page.
Instead of say, a scantily clad woman barely wearing American Apparel, "t.o.night" likes to show off an "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" type ad, where they show how a daily paper publishes a similar story that "t.o.night" ran the afternoon before.
Now, I won't pretend to know any more about the print process than I do (like I said, online is my world), but first of all, I doubt that Metro is looking at t.o.night for story ideas, especially since I expect they're likely halfway finished laying out the paper before the glossy even hits the streets. The other beef I have is that some of these simliar stories are all basically based on the same wire put out by news wire services like Reuters or Canadian Press. (And the free dailies are heavily bolstered by wires... that's what keeps costs down, and why they are free).
It works like this: in the morning, the wires (think of them like a borg-like news entity) push out the latest news stories. Actually, they push them around the clock, with constant updates all the time. So at say, 6:30am or 9:30am or 11:30am, whenever the latest story moves, any organization who subscribes to their feed will see the updates.
So your favourite online news outlet (like CTV.ca News), which updates the news all the time, will have the latest, updated news stories. So if a story moves at 11am, you'll see it at 11am.
Then, six hours later, that same news will show up in "t.o.night."
Then, the next morning, that same news will show up in "Metro" or "24 Hours."
Sure, "t.o.night" will have the story on dead trees well before someone else will have it on dead trees, but that doesn't make their reporting or presentation any better (if there's any original reporting going on at all). If I were them, I'd look for more interesting features and commentary and build the paper with more of a voice... since Blog.TO is already giving them content, and Torontoist has had ties to other outlets, maybe Toronto Mike or the Martini Boys are willing to sell them some content.
Despite my problem with their practice, I'll still probably read an issue of "t.o.night" when it's handed to me. But once the TTC finally puts some cell phone service underground, I think I'll stick with browsing the latest news on my iPhone instead.
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TTC: Please go back to splitting up the 501
Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not a minority on this one, but the October/November experiment of "splitting" the 501 Queen Street car was a resounding success... and now it's gone.
In the past, the TTC has tried lots of different experiments, some of which were very successful, and yet seemingly dissolved into nothing... like many people, I've assumed it was just the Kafka-esque bureaucracy of the TTC at work (on not at work as it were). However, with the recent "crowd control" experiment at Yonge station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line, the TTC has somehow managed to turn their experiment into a full-time rush hour implementation.
How is it then, that another successful experiment like the streetcar split seemingly dies in the water? Is it union issues? Red tape? Political reasons?
I'll admit, my evidence of the streetcar split working is anecdotal at best: I regularly take the streetcar from Woodbine to McCaul and back again, with the occasional trip from the core to out west. And during the time of the "split," I have to say that it was the fastest, most efficient traveling experience I've had on the TTC in a long time.
Sure, when I was trying to catch a trip home, I'd have to wait for a Neville or Victoria Park car when it seems like only Parliament cars were passing by, but at the same time, I was almost never "Short-turned" once I got on the car headed east. Unlike now, when streetcars are routinely shafting it's passengers at say, Greenwood or Kingston road.
The split just made sense: The Queen line is just too long to expect regular service from one end to the other. All you have to do is take the streetcar out to Long Branch one day, and you'll understand how they can get so delayed. Same goes for the beaches.
As for the people who for whatever reason live in Parkdale and take the streetcar out to the Beaches during rush hour; I wonder where you get four hours every day to make the trip.
On another note; nothing bugs me as much as the TTC's "average wait time" stats system: The way they figure this out, is that they calculate the number of "Seats" that pass by a certain point per specific amount of time. That's great and all, except for the fact that streetcars work like this: They almost always travel in packs of threes, with the first one going really slow because it's stuffed with people who take forever to get on and off because of the packed nature of the car. It's usually tailed by a second car, which has easily caught up because it hasn't been picking up any passengers 1 minute after the previous car arrived. So as the second one catches up and slows down, you'll likely see a third. You'll wait for that one and get on because it's always empty, and you can get a decent seat... but without fail, that one will short-turn and dump you on the street about 4 stops away from your destination. So when you average it out like the TTC does, let say when 3 streetcars pass a certain point in half an hour, they will report that you only wait 1o minutes for a car, when in reality, those three cars likely passed you all at once, and if you missed it, you'll probably wait 25 minutes for the next set.
Apparently riding the streetcar for Toronto city councillor Sandra Bussin (yes that Sandra Bussin, *sigh* my representative at city hall ) was such a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience for her she decided to tweet about it. This is a good example of why the TTC sucks: our city leadership doesn't ride it. (Noted from her twitter: 10 people traveling from the Beaches to Long Branch at 1:30 in the afternoon? Really?)
If you agree with me, please call and let the TTC know! Here's the number: 416-393-3030. They'll "report their findings" at a future meeting, which means they need to hear from us!